Should you Build Something that’s Never Been Built Before?

When building a product you can choose from one of the following three options:

Build something that’s never been built before

Build something that companies have built on their own

Build something another vendor has already built

Each option has it’s own pros and cons. For example building a “copy cat” product, you already know there is a market, but the upside may be limited. Building something from scratch could imply more risk but have a higher payout.

At SalesLoft, we’ve always tried to build something that’s never been built. For that reason it’s taken time to hone in on the details of the solution. While I feel we’ve found it, I do tend to believe that building stuff companies have tried to build on their own is a happy medium and shouldn’t be avoided. It shows there is a problem, but the vendor market is not saturated.

Have you ever thought about product development in this vein? If so, where do your thoughts fall?